Step Up and Lead

GUEST BLOGGER: Today’s guest post comes from Chris Spradlin over at @EpicParent.  Chris provides great parenting content at (EpicParent.tv).  If you would like to be a guest blogger for BigIsTheNewSmall.com, click here.

Step Up and Lead

We live in a world that is driven by strong leaders, entrepreneurial genius’, innovative risk takers, and bold decision makers. We study the lives of pacesetters like Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Hillary Clinton, and Condoleeza Rice. We have learned the art of efficiency, empowering leaders, negotiations, confronting weak performance, leading through difficult situations, and leading from influence rather than position.

While we have become stronger and better leaders over the years, many of us have families that have been destroyed in the process!

  • The divorce rate amongst couples with no workaholic spouse sits at around 16%. By contrast, workaholic marriages crumble at a 55% rate
  • Children of workaholics grow up learning that promises often are not kept.
  • Kids of workaholics lead the way in drug use and teenage pregnancies

While you may have flair in the board room, today I am challenging you to STEP UP AND LEAD in the living room!

5 Strategies To Help You Step Up And Lead In the Living Room…

  • PUT DOWN AND PICK UP: I encourage all parents to PUT DOWN “Good To Great” and PICK UP God’s Word. Your kids desperately need you to deposit God’s Word deep into their heart, soul, and mind. You might be a success because you can lead executives through a book study but you’re a failure if you can’t lead your kids in a Bible study. Don’t try to change the world in one day, set a simple goal of making this happen twice a week.
  • PRACTICE SERVANT LEADERSHIP: We all know that an effective leader serves those he is leading. As I think about this, it’s interesting to me that we serve those at work but expect to be served at home. I encourage all parents to step into the pain and relentlessly serve their families…even if you just got home from work! I have also found this to be one of the greatest parenting tools in changing my kids’ attitude and behavioral challenges. One day I was at the end of my rope with my son’s attitude. The only thing left in my bag of tricks was to spank him every day for the rest of his life and put him under house arrest until he turned 35! Instead…I opted for the ridiculous strategy of serving him. I helped him clean his room, make his bed, and asked if he wanted to have a sleep over with five of his buddies. (I’ll never do that again) What was the result? Absolute character transformation! Step up and serve your family!
  • GIVE PERMISSION: So many of us try to create a culture in our work environment where our staff can be real, share their heart, and be brutally honest. I believe parents need to create this exact same culture at home. Give your kids permission to be real, share their heart, and be brutally honest! Give them permission to respectfully challenge your parenting. “Dad, you rarely keep your promises”, “Mom, you always say your too tired”, “Why do you work so much”. Give your kids permission. And this is a great time for you to shut-up and listen! Don’t hire an expensive legal team to defend your position.
  • USE THE “F” WORD: If you want to get your kids’ attention, stop them in their tracks and get them to listen to you…then I encourage you to use the “F” word! “Cole, I want to ask for your forgiveness for not keeping my promise”, “Kylie, will you forgive me for yelling”, “Tifton, will you please forgive me for making you listen to my LoverBoy album”…I think you get the idea.
  • PRAY: Last week I found my old skool MC Hammer cassette tape. Team Sprad pulled it out and listened to one of my favorite songs on the album…PRAY. I believe that all parents should make prayer a foundation in their home! My wife is in nursing school right now, so I am Mr. take the kids to school guy. Every morning on the way to school, I pray for and over Team Sprad. I don’t pray a weak “God help the kids today” kind of a prayer. No, I pray a bold… “God give my kids the power to change the world kind of a prayer”! If you want to lead your family…PRAY!

What did I miss? Share 1 way that you can start leading your family today.

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scottwilliams2@churchleaders.com'
Scott Williams served as a key leader and Campus Pastor for LifeChurch.tv. He is the Chief Solutions Officer for Nxt Level Solutions, a consulting company he founded to help businesses, non-profits and individuals with both internal and external growth. Scott is speaker, strategist, consultant and developer of leaders. He is an avid blogger at BigIsTheNewSmall.com, and leverages Social Media to make a Kingdom impact. Scott is passionate about leadership development, organizational growth and diversity. He is the author of “Church Diversity – Sunday The Most Segregated Day Of The Week.” Scott is married, a father of two, and lives in Oklahoma City, OK.